Rotterdam Marathon: Krista DuChene’s Comeback Race this Sunday

Canada’s second-fastest marathon runner Krista DuChene of Branford, Ontario, will be toeing-the-line this Sunday, April 12th in Rotterdam, The Netherlands to take on the flat course and an uber-fast field. In this race she may qualify for the 2015 IAAF World Track and Field Championships that will take place this summer in Beijing, China.

DuChene is back after recovering from injury. She broke her femur defending her Canadian half marathon title during the 2014 Scotiabank Montreal Half Marathon on Sunday April 27th. In her return to distance racing, on March 1st, she ran to a 74-minute finish in the Chilly Half Marathon that takes place in Burlington, Ontario. Rotterdam is her first marathon since recovering from the injury.

The 38-year-old is Canada’s second fastest all-time marathon runner with her best of 2:28:32. She has run several consistent weeks in a row of 160 and 170K per week, during the winter. According to her coach, even though she had to learn to walk again and running 100m was a struggle at first, “you would never know she had the injury now, there is no limp.”

The only Canadian faster than DuChene is Lanni Marchant, who owns the national record that she took down by running exactly 2:28:00 during the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. She also owns the national half marathon record with her best of 1:10:47.

The qualifying standard time that must be reached for Canadian women to race in the 2015 IAAF World Track and Field Championship is 2:35:00.

The Rotterdam record for time for women is 2:18:58 by Ethiopia’s Tika Gelana from the 2012 edition of the race.

The World Record is held by England’s Paula Radcliffe at 2:15:25. She also holds the three-fastest times, the next fastest is by Kenyan Mary Keitany at 2:18:37.